The work is part of a county-wide investment package of over £5m to rationalise the Council’s property portfolio. The programme will create modern and flexible workspaces to support frontline services more effectively, undertake essential maintenance work, and generate long-term savings.
Properties no longer needed have either been handed back to landlords or sold to generate funds that can be reinvested into the front-line. In Northallerton alone, this will generate savings of over £170,000 every year by 2023.
As part of this programme the Council has acquired the recently closed magistrate’s court, which is situated on the County Hall campus, in a £450,000 purchase. This has provided a further opportunity to rationalise overall office space to bring more staff onto the campus and in the short term serves to accommodate staff and council meetings while County Hall is refurbished, with staff now moved over from the Brierley Building.
York-based William Birch, arrived on site over the August Bank Holiday to commence work on this project.
Why did NYCC choose William Birch?
Founded in 1874, William Birch & Sons Ltd is one of the regions longest established family owned construction companies and employ almost 100 local people. Back in 2017, they completed some renovation work to County Hall, and were successful in winning the North and East Yorkshire Building Excellence Award.
The council understands the importance of maintaining local companies in the county, which played a great part in the decision to appoint William Birch.
Gemma Shahjahan, Business Development Director at William Birch said, “We are delighted to have been appointed to complete the important restoration and refurbishment works to the North Yorkshire County Council’s, Brierley Building. It is a return to site for us after completing a previous phase of similar work in 2017 which was well received by the Council and was highly commended at the LABC awards. Our experienced site manager will continue and deliver this latest phase and is working closely with the team at County Hall to ensure minimal disruption during the programme of works.
Amongst the many new build construction projects we deliver, we do have a specialism in historic restoration, and have worked on some of the region’s most high profile listed buildings including the Mansion House in York, Sewerby Hall in Bridlington and Whitby Abbey; Often these projects are based on restoring and refurbishing buildings to enhance their treasured features, provide more sustainable and efficient facilities and preserve their historic importance. All of these facets are important at County Hall and we look forward to the Council realising the benefit of the project once works are complete in 2020.
Work is due to be finished next Autumn 2020.
